My Nerodia sp. "Chesapeake" (housing suggestions! Plz!)

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BuffaloPolypteridae

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 5, 2013
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Buffalo
I've had a Chesapeake Bay water snake for over a year now, he was 5 inch when I got him. I literally walked over to my fishing tackle bag (its like a canvas bag) and he was inside haha so I snagged a big bin, bowl of water and dropped whatever baby fish I got in the trap while I was still in the middle of nowhere to keep him occupied and fed. *I did make sure it was a legal take*

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This is the coolest and most recent pic I got, he's quite pretty for a water snake imo haha right now he's got 2 hides, a plastic mammoth head and a wooden semicircle, and a hide in the water to ambush from which is a saber tooth tiger skull haha. His water feature is a plastic bin lol has worked fine but obviously not aesthetically pleasing. Plus I'd like more then a top view, I'd like to view him hunt like a fish in any of our fish tanks

I havent measured him but hes as long as my rope and I got a good measure on him during bucket acclimation, 13 inch. They can get pretty large (if its a female at least), so I'd imagine when he is full grown he's going to need a good bit of water to swim in.

I'd love suggestions for a permanent habitat for this guy, setup, size etc. I don't have much experience with snakes other then common ones (had a corn snake, my sis has a ball python) and compared to them this guy is a ROCKET. So fast, I understand now why snake people use fast snakes like this for training for venomous. And completely opposite in behaviour then the corn and pythom, he sometimes ambushs but mostly he chases the school of minnows I drop in until he just snags one. Then keeps going lol.

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you could do a half land half water setup. dirt on one side, glass divider and water on the other side with various plants and you could breed gambusia in it
 
Glass divider is a good idea, my first idea was like a fiberglass land feature on like stilts so he could go under it too but I don't want him to get stuck under it lol. Gambusia are live bearers right? They hardy enough to live in shallowish water? I'm gonna be making this from scratch so I'm basically gonna have to build a mini fish tank inside of a terrarium, use a substrate that doesn't absorb much water, maybe use a turtle filter for the water feature? I could use media from my tank and everything. Even cut off a lil it of pothos and grow it in there so I don't have to worry about nitrate levels as much.

Planning on the water feature to be at least like 12w x 12l x 6h inches. If the fish have too much area it'll be hard for him to snag em

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BuffaloPolypteridae said:
Glass divider is a good idea, my first idea was like a fiberglass land feature on like stilts so he could go under it too but I don't want him to get stuck under it lol. Gambusia are live bearers right? They hardy enough to live in shallowish water? I'm gonna be making this from scratch so I'm basically gonna have to build a mini fish tank inside of a terrarium, use a substrate that doesn't absorb much water, maybe use a turtle filter for the water feature? I could use media from my tank and everything. Even cut off a lil it of pothos and grow it in there so I don't have to worry about nitrate levels as much.

Planning on the water feature to be at least like 12w x 12l x 6h inches. If the fish have too much area it'll be hard for him to snag em

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gambusia will do fine. yes they are live bearers. Geve them as much room as you want. He'll catch them. You could even add a few bluegill/small perch like that, they are a favorite of our native nerodia sp.
 
Theres a creek about a half mile from my house i could go net from for some smaller creek specie for him to eat. I have before but im paranoid about internal parasites and all my fish tanks are too warm to QT them

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BuffaloPolypteridae said:
Theres a creek about a half mile from my house i could go net from for some smaller creek specie for him to eat. I have before but im paranoid about internal parasites and all my fish tanks are too warm to QT them

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When we kept one temporarily we fed him fish from the pond he was collected in... It can't hurt, thats what he'd be eating anyway.
 
He was collected in the chesapeake bay so hed be eating brackish/saltwater fish naturally. You think about 12 inches in a year is a good growth rate? I feed about 20 (depends on the size of the minnows) rosy reds every 2 weeks and it usually takes him a few days to get em all

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BuffaloPolypteridae said:
He was collected in the chesapeake bay so hed be eating brackish/saltwater fish naturally. You think about 12 inches in a year is a good growth rate? I feed about 20 (depends on the size of the minnows) rosy reds every 2 weeks and it usually takes him a few days to get em all

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Sounds fine to me
 
Iv seen few of these on fireboat. Awesome guys!!

Id use a silicone divider or silicone land. More pics btw!!!
 
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